Rolf Harris - UKGameshows Rolf Harris Biography Aussie board-wobbler, painter, singer, animal-discusser and TV host, with a lively taste in shirts. He was one of a number of famous people arrested as part of Operation Yewtree, the investigation into sexual offences in the entertainment industry set up following the posthumous revelations about Jimmy Savile , and in 2014 he was convicted of twelve counts of indecent assault on four girls aged between 7 and 19. Trivia His hit singles included Two Little Boys, which was the very last UK number one of the (ahem) swinging sixties, and an eccentric cover version of Stairway to Heaven. He claims that he performed his interpretation of the latter based solely on the sheet music, having never heard Led Zeppelin's original version. And you know what, we believe him. Another highly memorable song of his is "Jake The Peg" (with his extra leg) - Harris has often performed this live, complete with the aforementioned additional limb. He presented his own series, "Rolf Harris Cartoon Time", for some years, in which he drew the cartoon characters before showing the cartoons - and guess what?

He'd constantly use his catchphrase, "Can you tell what it is yet?" throughout the programme. One episode of "The Goodies", entitled 'Scatty Safari', showed the trio running a safari park that contained celebrities rather than animals and introducing Rolf Harris to the park, only to find that they were soon very worryingly overrun with Rolf Harrises all over the country. The Goodies therefore piped (or rather didgereedoo'd), Pied Piper-style, the umpteen Rolfs off the scene (ie to ITV) except for one, who was lame (Jake The Peg, of course). Apparently, Rolf would have been more than happy to have appeared as himself in this episode, except that he was never asked, because the Goodies and their production team didn't think that he would, so instead we had actors playing his part. What a shame. He made a cameo appearance as himself alongside Nicholas Lyndhurst in the BBC's long-running 1990's comedy series "Goodnight Sweetheart".

His career was suddenly revived in the mid-1990's, when he started hosting and narrating "Animal Hospital" for the BBC (apparently on the personal recommendation of executive producer Lorraine Heggessey, a long-time Harris fan). His natural charm and personality and real interest in and empathy for the animals involved shone through at all times and proved a major hit with viewers. As a result, he went on to make a number of other animal-based series. Alongside "Animal Hospital", he also presented two series of a show entitled "Rolf's Amazing World of Animals", in which he and the show's roving reporter, Rosemarie Ford , met a number of animals and their owners (including some celebrities like John Cleese and Toyah Willcox ) with intriguing stories, most of them acts of heroism. He also narrated a 2010 BBC wildlife documentary, "Penguin Island", focusing on the lives of the Little Penguins found in Australia. He famously painted a portrait of the Queen for her 80th birthday.

In 2009 he was seen advertising a certain insurance company (complete with his trademark wobble-board, artwork, catchphrase and singing) alongside that nodding bulldog who usually likes to say, "Oh, yes!" (though not in this case). He also famously advertised the Stylophone in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and appeared in a public information film promoting the idea that children should learn to swim. The Fellowship of the British Academy of Film and Televisual Arts (BAFTA, to everyone else) was bestowed on Rolf in 2012 but rescinded following his conviction in 2014. Web links Rolf Harris -- Sun Arise - YouTube Rolf Harris -- Sun Arise Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Jul 11, 2008 Rolf Harris and his Sun Arise is a well loved song from my youth. So in the slide show there are images of the sun rising ...

Rolf ... a few Australian animals and of course, some of Rolfies fantastic art ... though there is a Monet popped in there. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Apparently the Kangaroo Paws that Rolf mentions in the third verse are flowers native to Australia not as I pictured the paws of Kangaroos. They can be seen on this site Thank you ronnie758day for educating me :~) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rolf has had a long career on tv mostly BBC. He had his own The Rolf Harris Show on BBC in 1967, and through the 70's and early 80's when he had Rolf on Saturday OK? Between 88 and 92 he presented Rolf's Cartoon Club, a children's show which combined Harris' love of art with showings of kids cartoons. The show also gave out tips to children. He had a Christmas Number One single titled "Two Little Boys" in 1969 He was also commissioned to paint a portrait of HM Queen Elizabeth II for her 80th birthday, which was unveiled by Rolf Harris on 19 December 2005 at Buckingham Palace.

In 1959 he recorded his hit "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport". The song was recorded on a single microphone placed above him in the TV studio. The song was sent to record company EMI in Sydney and it was soon released. The song was originally titled "Kangalypso" and featured the distinctive sound of the "wobble board" In 2006 Rolf expressed his regret about the original lyrics Rolf sang "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport" (with The Beatles singing backing vocals) in the first edition of the From Us To You BBC radio shows, in December, 1963 Rolf went on to use an array of unusual instruments in his music, including the didgeridoo (the sound of which was imitated on "Sun Arise" by four double basses), Jew's harp and, later, the stylophone. Harris has played the didgeridoo on two albums by English pop singer Kate Bush, 1982's The Dreaming and 2005's Aerial.

His biggest hit, however, was a gimmick-free rendering of the sentimental song "Two Little Boys" (1969), a departure for him in that he usually recorded either his own compositions or traditional songs. Rolf also created one of his most famous roles in the 1960s, Jake the Peg. Here are Rolf's Lyrics Sun arise, she bring in the morning. Sun arise, bring in the morning, fluttering her skirts all around. Sun arise, she come with the dawning. Sun arise, come with the dawning, spreading all the light all around. Sun arise, on the kangaroo paw. Sun arise, on the kangaroo paw, glistening the dew all around. Sun arise, filling all the hollows, Sun arise, filling all the hollows, lighting up the hills all around. Sun arise, come with the dawning, Sun arise, she come every day. Sun arise, bring in the morning, Sun arise, every, every, every, every, day. She drive away the darkness, every day, Drive away the darkness, Bringing back the warmth to the ground. Sun arise, oh, oh, Spreading all the light all around... Sun arise, bring in the morning.

Sun arise, bring in the morning, spreading all the light all around. Category BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | Two little boys, but in which war? Two little boys, but in which war? Harris sings Two Little Boys on Top of the Pops in 1969, and again 39 years on SMASHED HITS Classic pop, reappraised by the Magazine Rolf Harris has re-recorded his 1969 number one Two Little Boys with a Welsh male voice choir to mark the 90th anniversary of the end of World War I. But the song has roots stretching back to Nelson's death. Rock legend has it that John Lennon sent Rolf Harris a telegram to congratulate him on getting an anti-Vietnam song to the top of the Christmas hit parade. But in 1969, as in its forthcoming remake, the song seems to be set in the cavalries of World War I. So which war is it that Jack and Joe, the song's protagonists, are fighting in? The song is a charmingly simple two-act story.

In act one, the two little boys play war games on wooden horses - Jack's horse breaks, but Joe "rescues" his friend, saying "there's room on my horse for two". Then, act two, after "long years had passed" and "war came so fast", the pair are in an actual war. Joe lies injured on the battlefield, but this time it is Jack who rescues him for real, trembling and explaining: "I think it's that I remember / When we were two little boys." But Harris's initial response to hearing the song back in the 1960s was far from positive. "I thought it was really namby-pamby and awful," he said. In the liner notes to The Definitive Rolf Harris, the singer recalls Australian folkie Ted Egan singing it to him, keeping rhythm by bashing his table.

ROLF'S TOP 30 HITS Bluer Than Blue (#30, 1969) Two Little Boys (#1, 1969) Stairway To Heaven (#7, 1993) Fine Day (#24, 2000) Source: Guinness British Hit Singles "I was sitting there feeling uncomfortable and wondering what I was going to say to him about the song when he had finished, because he was such a nice bloke and it was such an awful song. "Suddenly he was singing the line, 'Did you think I would leave you dying?' and all the hairs stood up on the back of my neck and arms." Harris then performed the song on his British TV variety show and recorded it as a single - "we had one spare track after take three, so we asked the trumpeter to re-record his bit and it gave the song a ghostly feel." Thatcher's favourite But Two Little Boys was not Egan's own composition - he'd learned it as a child from his mother, who knew the original music hall version, credited to Madden/Morse, turn of the century songwriters to Al Jolson.

And since Madden and Morse were both American, this would seem to place the story in the American Civil War - better fitting the horses than Vietnam. OTHER VERSIONS Splodgenessabounds' punk version (#26, 1980) Billy Connolly's police brutality skit Two Little Boys In Blue Sung by Spud following a funeral in Trainspotting (1996) Country version by John Denver A capella version by Sinéad O'Connor Hartlepool United terrace anthem And so it was that Harris had the last number one of the 1960s - a typically incongruous highlight of a career that has included musical experimentation with Kate Bush, fronting "hip" TV show The Young Generation With Rolf Harris, painting the Queen's portrait and overseeing the operations in Animal Hospital. To some, the most unexpected highlight of all was Margaret Thatcher choosing Two Little Boys as a personal favourite, when she appeared on a radio show in 1979. But it perhaps makes more sense than some other politicians' desert island picks - it's much more like a fondly remembered children's story than a normal pop song.

And in fact, the tale of Jack and Joe bears a striking resemblance to an actual children's story - from 1884. Male voice choirs do it for me every time. It reminds me of my proud Welsh grandfather David R, Pontivy, France What makes men cry? In Jackanapes, by Juliana Horatia Ewing, childhood chums Jackanapes and Tony play on hobby horses at a fair. Later, on a Napoleonic battlefield, Tony loses control of his horse ("Tony Johnson was always unlucky with horses, from the days of the giddy-go-round onwards"), but is saved by Jack ("Leave you? To save my skin? No, Tony, not to save my soul!") And if the Peninsular War of 1807-1814 is also present in the song, then so too is an earlier battle: JH Ewing's grandfather was the chaplain on HMS Victory and had held the dying Nelson in his arms. Nelson's death. Is the man holding him the real inspiration for Two Little Boys?

The new version - conceived of while Harris was recording a documentary about his father's experience at Ypres - brings it firmly back to World War I, but it's the childish simplicity of the lyric - its namby-pambyness, if you like - that makes the tale of wartime compassion applicable to any conflict. One thing is for sure - the combination of a male voice choir and battlefield bravery makes the new recording a prime contender for Things That Make Blokes Cry. Advertisement Thatcher: 'Did you think I'd leave you dying?' Smashed Hits is compiled by Alan Connor Bookmark with: Rolf Harris’s Biography — Free listening, videos, concerts, stats and photos at Last.fm Biography This page has been locked by a moderator. Rolf Harris, CBE, AM (born 30 March 1930), is an Australian/British musician, singer, composer, painter, and television host and personality. Biography Named after Rolf Boldrewood, an Australian writer his mother admired, he was born in Bassendean, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, Australia, to Cromwell ("Crom") Harris and Agnes Margaret Harris (née Robbins) who had both emigrated from Cardiff, Wales.

He is the nephew of Australian artist Pixie O'Harris, (1903-1991), i.e. Rhona Olive Pratt, née Harris. As an adolescent and young adult, Harris was a champion swimmer being the Australian Junior 110 yards Backstroke Champion in 1946 and Western Australian state champion over a variety of distances and strokes during the period 1948–1952. Harris attended Perth Modern School in Subiaco, and the University of Western Australia. He met his wife, the Welsh sculptress and jeweller Alwen Hughes, while they were both art students, and they married on 1 March 1958. They have one daughter, Bindi Harris (born 10 March 1964), who studied art at Bristol Polytechnic and is now a painter. Music and art Harris moved to England as an art student at City and Guilds Art School, Kennington, South London at the age of 22, getting into television with the BBC in 1953, doing a regular ten minute cartoon drawing section with a puppet called 'Fuzz', made and operated on the show by magician Robert Harbin.

He illustrated Robert Harbin's Paper Magic (1956). He also had a few acting roles in British television programs and film as Harry in The Vise and as Pvt. Proudfoot in the 1955 Tommy Trinder film 'You Lucky People'. When Commercial television started in 1956, Harris was the only entertainer to work on both BBC and ITV, performing on BBC with his own creation, 'Willoughby', a specially made board on which he drew Willoughby, (voiced and operated by Peter Hawkins) . The character would then come to life and hold a comedy dialogue with Harris as he drew cartoons of Willoughby's antics. On Associated Rediffusion he invented a character called Oliver Polip the Octopus which he drew on the back of his his hand and animated, as well as illustrating Oliver's adventures with cartoons on huge sheets of card. He had drifted away from art school as a slightly disillusioned student and had luckily met his long time hero, Australian impressionist painter Hayward Veal, who took Harris under his wing and became his mentor, teaching him the rudiments of impressionism and showing him how it could help with his portrait painting.

At the same time, Harris was entertaining with his piano accordion every Thursday night at a club called the Down Under, a haunt for homesick Australians and New Zealanders. Here, over the next several years, he honed his entertainment skills, eventually writing the song which was later to become his theme song, 'Tie me kangaroo down sport'. He was also to appear regularly at Clement Freud's 'Royal Court Theatre Club' in Sloane Square, where he sat at the piano and entertained débutantes and their escorts. Harris was head-hunted to return to Perth when television was introduced there in 1960. There he produced and starred in five half hour children's shows a week, as well as starring in his own weekly evening variety show. During that year he recorded in the TVW studios, the song he had written for the Down Under Club in London, 'Tie me kangaroo down sport'. It was released by EMI and became his first recording and his first number one. At the end of 1960 he toured Australia for Dulux paints, singing his hit song and doing huge paintings on stage with Dulux emulsion paint.

He and his wife, Alwen went to Vancouver in Canada by mistake, and had a huge success there, working two shows a night at the Arctic Club, where he was held over for 31 weeks until the club accidentally burnt down on Christmas Eve, 1961. He was immediately transferred to the huge 'Cave' theatre restaurant to great critical acclaim. He returned to the United Kingdom early in 1962 and was introduced to the legendary George Martin, who re-recorded all Harris's songs including 'Sun Arise', an aboriginal type song Rolf had written with Perth naturalist Harry Butler. The song went to number 2 in the UK charts, losing the number 1 spot to Elvis Presley. He met and worked with the Beatles when they started recording with George Martin, and compéred their Christmas show in Finsbury Park Empire in 1963. He and his wife have lived permanently in the UK since 1962, and has regularly returned to Vancouver to entertain ever since. He has also regularly returned to Perth over the years for family visits and to the rest of Australia where he has spent as much as four months every year touring with his band.

In 1973, Harris performed the very first concert in the concert hall of the newly completed Sydney Opera House to huge acclaim. Since the late sixties Harris had been performing top rated variety television shows on the BBC in London, shows which were also shown in Australia and New Zealand, creating great support for his many tours in both countries as well as in South Africa. Harris has been credited with inventing a simple home-made instrument called the wobble board. This discovery was accidentally made in the course of his work when he attempted to dry a freshly painted hardboard with added heat, from hearing the sound made by the board as he shook it by the short edges to cool it off. He suggests the effect can best be obtained through faint bouncing of a tempered hardboard or a thinner MDF board between the palms of one's hands. In 1960 he worked on TVW-7's first locally produced show Spotlight. During his time at TVW he recorded his hit "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport". The song was recorded on a single microphone placed above him in the TV studio. The song was sent to record company EMI in Sydney and it was soon released as a record.

Rolf Harris offered four unknown backing musicians 10% of the royalties for the song, but they decided to take a recording fee of 7 pounds each because they thought the song would be a flop. The novelty song was originally titled "Kangalypso" and featured the distinctive sound of the "wobble board" which was played by bouncing it up and down. The original recording of the song issued in Australia was considered controversial by some listeners because of the lyrics: "Let me abos go loose, Lew[/ Let me abos go loose/ They're of no further use, Lew/ So let me abos go loose". The verse appears to refer to Aboriginal servitude and captivity in a whimsically approving manner. In addition, the word "abo" was beginning to be seen as a term of abuse at the time. Most of the rest of the song refers to pet Australian animals. The offending verse did not feature in later versions of the song. In 2006 Harris expressed his regret about that original lyric. Harris also performed this song in 2000 with Australia's children's supergroup The Wiggles.

Harris sang "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport" (with The Beatles singing backing vocals) in the first edition of the From Us to You BBC radio shows, in December, 1963. Harris completely customized the original lyrics to a version that was especially written for The Beatles: Cut yer hair once a year boys, (repeat), If it covers your ears you can't hear boys, so (repeat first line). Don't ill-treat me pet dingo, Ringo, (repeat). He can't understand your lingo, Ringo, so (repeat first line). George’s guitar's on the blink, I think, (repeat), It shouldn't go plinkety plink, no, (repeat first line). Prop me up by the wall, Paul, (repeat), 'Cause if you don't I might fall, Paul, so (repeat first line). Keep the hits coming on, John, (repeat), 'Til long long after I've gone, John, just (repeat first line).

Harris went on to use an array of unusual instruments in his music, including the didgeridoo (the sound of which was imitated on "Sun Arise" by four double basses), Jew's harp and, later, the stylophone. Harris has played the didgeridoo on two albums by English pop singer Kate Bush , 1982's The Dreaming and 2005's Aerial . Harris went on to create one of his most famous roles in the 1960s, Jake the Peg but his biggest hit was in 1969 with his rendering of the US Civil War song" Two Little Boys", written in 1902. It was only recently that Rolf discovered a personal poignancy to the song because the story bears such a resemblance to the WWI experiences of his father Crom and his beloved younger brother Carl, who died at the age of 19 after being wounded in battle in France, just two weeks before the armistice of November 1918.

In his appearance on the BBC's Desert Island Discs, on which guests are invited to choose eight pieces of music they would wish to have with them if stranded on a desert island, Harris famously chose eight of his own records. In 2000, Harris, along with Steve Lima released a dance track called "Fine Day" which entered the top 30 in the UK charts at that time. A 'Killie-themed' version was recorded and scheduled for release in March 2007 to coincide with the Scottish football club's appearance in the Scottish League Cup final after the song was adopted by the fans in 2003. One of the lyrics referred to the hypothetical situation in which Kilmarnock could be 5-0 down, which ironically was similar to the final score of 5-1. In November and December 2002, under Charles Saumarez Smith's direction, London's National Gallery exhibited a collection of Harris's art. He was also commissioned to paint a portrait of HM Queen Elizabeth II for her 80th birthday, which was unveiled by Rolf Harris on 19 December 2005 at Buckingham Palace.

In his words, it is an impressionistic rather than photographic depiction. Some commentators found it to be offensive and unbecoming of the Queen, but the Queen herself expressed her approval at the painting after her final sitting, particularly with the way in which Harris had painted her smile. The story of the painting featured as a special edition of Rolf on Art. The special, called The Queen by Rolf, was broadcast on BBC One on 1 January 2006. In his painting of the portrait of the Queen, Rolf Harris was following a family tradition — Harris' grandfather painted a portrait of the Queen's grandfather, King George V (in which King George V was inspecting the troops). In 2005, Rolf played the didgeridoo on Kate Bush's album Aerial, contributing vocals to the songs " An Architect's Dream " and " The Painter's Link ". In the late 80's he was touring in Australia and was asked to sing his own comedy version of ' Stairway to Heaven ' on a TV program 'The Money or the Gun'. He did this with his own small group and had great success.

Several years later it was released as a single in the UK and went to number 4 in the charts, causing a great furore with ' Led Zeppelin ' fans, and great enjoyment with everyone else. As a result of this success he appeared at the Glastonbury Festival in 1994 and was later named the best entertainer EVER to have appeared at Glastonbury. He has since appeared four more times at subsequent Glastonbury festivals and most recently appeared there on 27 June 2009 on the Jazz World Stage to a packed crowd. His TV successes include over 100 shows of 'Rolf's Cartoon Club' for HTV in Bristol, where he encouraged everyone to get into animation, and doing wonderful artwork and animation on a weekly basis. Then in 1994 he started a veterinary program called 'Animal Hospital' which regularly had over seven and a half million viewers. This show ran for ten wonderful years, and when that finished in 2004, he starred in ' Rolf on Art', a series in which he created works of art in the styles of Van Gogh, Monet, Degas, Gaughin, Picasso, Dali and many others.

This series regularly scored over seven million viewers weekly, culminating in Rolf painting a birthday portrait of Queen Elizabeth ll with her Majesty appearing on camera talking animatedly with Harris while he worked on the painting. The public were able to watch the painting develop from the blank white canvas. This portrait has just been exhibited in the Australian National Portrait Gallery in Canberra for six months, after Harris gave the prestigious annual lecture there in 2008. 1982 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony Matilda, the winking kangaroo was the mascot for the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. When Matilda arrived at the stadium, she 'winked' to the crowd as she went around the stadium track — then her 'pouch' opened and several young children (about 5 years old to 7 years old), dressed as joey kangaroos, rushed out (then ran to — and jumped on — a number of trampolines which had been set up especially for them).

Harris, who was standing, complete with wobble board, at the back of a small truck, then sang a special rendition of his hit song "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport", which included some lyrics especially written for the Opening Ceremony: Let me welcome you to the Games, friends, Welcome you to the Games Look, I don't know all of your names, friends, But let me welcome you to the Games. Following his singing of "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport", Harris sang "Waltzing Matilda". As well as a video tape recording of the Opening Ceremony being released, the music for the Opening Ceremony was released as an album and an audio tape, with Harris as one of the featured artists. "Stairway to Heaven" Harris' career received a boost in 1993 when his cover version of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" became a hit, reaching number 7 of the UK singles chart. Harris originally performed the song, live, during an appearance on the television comedy show The Money or the Gun. Each episode of The Money or the Gun featured a rendition of Stairway to Heaven but in the idiosyncratic style of another performer.

Harris' version of the song recreated the song in the style of "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport", complete with wobble board and didgeridoo solos. Although he had the sheet music, Harris claims that he had not heard the original version when he recorded his; as such, he disavows any claim that his version was intended to be irreverent or humorous. Harris' version was one of 28 versions of the song performed on the show — and his version is one of the 25 versions of the song which was released on the The Money or the Gun's Stairways to Heaven videotape and CD (Harris' single comes from the same recording of his version of the song). A wobble board Harris used to perform "Stairway to Heaven" on Top of the Pops is now part of the National Museum of Australia collection. Recordings and appearances Harris also recorded a version of Queen 's " Bohemian Rhapsody " around this time.

He performed The Divinyls ' " I Touch Myself " — accompanied only by his wobble board — for Andrew Denton's Musical Challenge on the MMM Breakfast Show (the recording was released on the first Musical Challenge compilation album in 2000). Later that year he made his first appearance at the Glastonbury Festival in what was seen as a novelty act. He played there again in 1998, 2000, 2002 and 2009. Harris has also recorded an Australian Christmas song called "Six White Boomers", about a joey Kangaroo trying to find his mother during Christmas time, and how Santa Claus used six large-size male Kangaroos (Boomers), instead of Reindeer (to put an Australian spin on the traditional story) to pull his sleigh and help the little joey find his "Mummy". In October 2008, Harris announced he would re-record his 1969 hit "Two Little Boys", backed by North Wales' Froncysyllte Male Voice Choir, to mark the 90th anniversary of the end of World War I.

Proceeds from the new release went to The Poppy Appeal. Harris was inspired to make the recording after participating in My Family at War, a short series of programmes in the BBC's Remembrance season, which was broadcast in November 2008. He discovered that the experiences of his father and uncle during the Great War mirrored the lyrics of the song. Television career Harris has had a long career on British television, making his debut in 1953 on a five minute spot with a puppet called 'Fuzz' in a one hour children’s show called 'Jigsaw'. The following year he was a regular on a BBC Television programme called Whirligig, with a character called 'Willoughby', who sprang to life on a drawing board but was erased at the end of the show. Although he chiefly appeared on the BBC, he was also on ITV with his 'Oliver Polip the Octopus' character on Small Time on Associated Rediffusion. He was the presenter of Hi There and Hey Presto it’s Rolf in 1964. Consequently he was already well-known face on television when The Rolf Harris Show first appeared in 1967.

Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s this series in various formats remained a popular light-entertainment staple, latterly being broadcast on Saturday evenings as Rolf on Saturday OK? Harris was also the commentator for the United Kingdom in the 1967 Eurovision Song Contest. On many of his television appearances he painted pictures on large boards in an apparently slapdash manner, with the odd nonsense song thrown in, but with detailed results. This was often accompanied by the phrase "Can you tell what is it yet?" just before the painting became recognisable. These appearances led to a string of TV series based on his artistic ability, notably Rolf Harris's Cartoon Time on BBC1 in the 1980s and Rolf's Cartoon Club on ITV between 1989-1993. On the children's show he also gave out tips to children on how to draw and create easy animation techniques, like flickbooks. He also hosted a successful variety TV series in Canada, which was a second home to Harris during the 1960s.

From 1994-2004, he was the host of the reality television programme Animal Hospital, which chronicled the real-life activity of a British veterinary practice. Rolf then adopted a greyhound that had been abandoned at the vets, named Rocky. Rolf presented 19 series of Animal Hospital for BBC One. It was five times winner in the Most Popular Factual Entertainment Show category of The National TV Awards. More recently, he presented Rolf on Art, which highlighted the work of some of his favourite artists, including van Gogh, Degas, Monet and Gauguin. Rolf on Art which made TV history when it gained the highest TV ratings ever for an Arts programme, is now in its sixth year. On 26 September 2004 Harris fronted a project to recreate John Constable's famous The Hay Wain painting on a massive scale, with 150 people contributing to a small section. Each individual canvas was assembled into the full picture live on the BBC, in the show Rolf on Art: The Big Event. He was named as one of the Radio Times list of the top 40 most eccentric TV presenters of all time in July 2004.

The story of Rolf Harris' portrait painting of Queen Elizabeth II featured as a special edition of Rolf on Art, broadcast on BBC One on 1 January 2006. Harris's portrait of The Queen was voted by readers of the Radio Times the third favourite portrait of Her Majesty. The royal portrait was exhibited at Buckingham Palace, the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, and was exhibited on a tour of public galleries in the UK. In September 2006 the Royal Australian Mint launched the first of the new 2007 Silver Kangaroo Collector's Coin series. Harris was commissioned to design the first coin in the series. For the third year running, Harris designed and painted the official Children In Need Christmas card. Harris has presented three series of the BBC art programme Star Portraits with Rolf Harris. In 2007, a documentary A Lifetime in Paint about Harris' work as an artist - from the early years in Australia to the present day - was screened on BBC One, followed by a Rolf On Art special titled Rolf on Lowry. In November 2007 at exhibition of Harris' new paintings was held at Portland Gallery, London.

In December 2007 a new DVD titled Rolf Live! was released through his website. Rolf on Art: Beatrix Potter was screened on BBC One in December 2007. Harris appeared with a wobble board in a Churchill Insurance advertisement in 2009, and hosted the satirical quiz show Have I Got News for You, aired on May 15, 2009. Catchphrases "Can You Tell What It Is Yet?" (referring to an in-progress piece of artwork) "The Poor Little Blighter" (referring to a dead or dying animal in Animal Hospital) "Heh-hah-heh-hah" (breathing noises, usually accompanying a wobbleboard performance) Honours Harris was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) on 17 June 2006, having previously been created a Member (MBE) in 1968 and an Officer (OBE) in 1977.

On 26 January 1989, he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) In 1975 he was appointed King of Moomba On 1 July 2008, Harris was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame, he was joined on-stage by The Seekers to perform "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport" and his Jake the Peg routine Version 6, edited by rwitte All user-contributed text on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. Don't want to see ads? Subscribe now Share this artist: Rolf Harris Rolf Harris Birth Date: 30th March 1930 Birth Place: Perth, Australia Rolf Harris arrived in England from Australia during 1952 full of artistic ambitions, and soon began training at a London art school. It was there that he met his future wife, Alwen- a fellow artist- which doubtless gave him an additional reason to settle in the UK. He had already developed most of his entertainment abilities while still in his hometown, Perth, though his efforts there were mostly on an amateur or semi-professional basis.

Although his early ambitions were in painting, the draw of the entertainment world was too strong for Rolf and he found himself hosting a show on children's TV, from which he soon widened his audience. He was such a good all round entertainer that he might not have been noticed for anything in particular. He was a skilled comedian, musician and cartoonist. He managed to combine the comedy with music on his records and added these to his artistic abilities in his TV shows to become one of Britain's most revered broadcasters, and until his fall from grace in 2014 even a national institution.. Despite the fact that Rolf has been resident in the UK for almost 50 years, he has always kept strong links with his first home, Australia. Rolf exploited his Australian background to good effect and his early 1960s singles all had an exaggeratedly strong Australian flavour. Most of his material he wrote himself including his hit with the novelty; 'Tie Me Kangaroo Down'. He has also exploited unusual musical instruments to make all his work very distinctive. These included the 'wobble board', which he invented himself, and the digeridoo.

By the late 1960s it looked as though Rolf's hit making days were probably behind him. However he managed to produce the last UK #1 of the decade with the sentimental 'Two Little Boys' which marked a considerable deviation from his previous Australian oriented output. It's now a long time since he produced singles, but he remained a familiar and popular figure on UK television, and even made regular appearances at Glastonbury to demonstrate that he had lost none of his musical abilities. 1950s & 1960s 45rpm UK Discography Listings include UK 45 singles releases only Collector's Items are shown In Red Columbia DB4483 Rolf Harris: Profile - BBC News BBC News Image copyright Reuters Image caption Rolf Harris has had a 60-year career on stage and on television Veteran entertainer, musician and artist Rolf Harris has been found guilty of 12 charges of indecent assault between the 1960s and '80s. For six decades, Rolf Harris has had success with novelty pop hits and children's TV and variety shows as well as series about animals and art.

The 84-year-old has been a fixture on screens in Britain and beyond since television took off in the 1950s. He found fame in 1953 on BBC children's TV, a year after he had arrived in the UK at the age of 21 from his native Australia. Growing up in Perth, he showed early promise in sport and art. After becoming a national swimming champion at the age of 15, he narrowly missed out on representing Australia at the 1948 London Olympic Games. And, at the age of 16, he staged the first of four exhibitions of his paintings in his home town. He then trained as a swimming teacher but after being struck down with a polio-like virus for several months, resolved to become a painter and headed to London, which his parents had told him was "the hub of the universe". On arriving, he enrolled in an art school, where he met his future wife Alwen Hughes, and performed at cabaret clubs to earn money before auditioning for a slot on children's TV.

Image caption Rolf Harris, pictured in 1956, started his career with characters like Willoughby Image caption The star hosted his own televised variety show in the 1960s He became a regular on both the BBC and commercial TV before executives from Perth persuaded him to return to Australia in 1959 to produce and present his own daily show. It was there that he first tasted success in the pop charts, going to number one with the single Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport. In 1961, the star returned to the UK and his song Sun Arise, produced by George Martin, reached number three in the hit parade. Now armed with his famous wobble board and catchphrase "Can you tell what it is yet?", Harris hosted a string of TV shows in the 1960s including Hi There! and Hey Presto It's Rolf!. His status as a household name was cemented when The Rolf Harris Show launched in 1967, when the star was 37.

In 1968, he received an MBE before scoring his biggest hit single with Two Little Boys - an old music hall number about childhood friends sent to war - which was 1969's Christmas number one. Image caption Rolf Harris's Cartoon Time was a fixture in the BBC One schedules for a decade Image caption Rolf On Art saw the host emulate great artists like Monet, Rodin and Warhol Back in Australia, Harris performed as part of the opening celebrations for the Sydney Opera House in 1973. The following year, the BBC launched Rolf on Saturday, OK?, a teatime variety show billed by the Radio Times as "half-an-hour of acting, painting and, above all, singing". His Cartoon Time children's show was a fixture in the BBC One schedules for a decade until 1989, and his Cartoon Club ran on ITV for a further four years. But when that was cancelled, Harris was diagnosed with clinical depression and he feared his career was at an end. However, he was again approached by BBC One in 1994, this time not to present a children's show but to host a programme about animal welfare.

Family regrets Animal Hospital, which followed the workings of a veterinary practice in north London, was a surprise hit with viewers and ran for 19 series over the subsequent 10 years. Off screen, Harris said he realised, while writing his 2002 autobiography, that his focus on his career had come at the expense of his relationships with his wife and daughter Bindi. "You examine things a bit closely and think, 'Maybe I could have done it differently'," he said. "I could have spent more time with my family, made an effort to be with them." His autobiography also detailed financial calamities - such as a dubious decision to build a nightclub in Malta - and ignorance of his own monetary matters until his brother Bruce stepped in to take over his affairs. The 21st Century saw Harris return both to TV screens and his first love of painting, when he was chosen to host art programmes, notably Star Portraits with Rolf Harris and Rolf on Art.

Image copyright AFP Image caption Harris painted a portrait in 2005 for the Queen's 80th birthday Image copyright PA Image caption He attracted huge crowds for his five performances at the Glastonbury Festival Rolf on Art culminated with him painting a portrait of The Queen in 2005 to celebrate her 80th birthday. The critics hated it and Lord Bragg accused the BBC of failing to take the arts seriously. Harris admitted he reacted badly to criticism. "They are entitled to their opinion," he told The Observer. "But some of the attacks I have received over the years have been vicious and personal and they hurt." Later that year, the entertainer was made a CBE as demand grew for his art, with canvasses changing hands for six-figure sums. Meanwhile, his quirky cover of Led Zeppelin's Stairway To Heaven, which reached the top 10 in the UK in 1993, afforded him cult status - not to mention big crowds at music festivals. He went on to appear five times at Glastonbury. "I think they put me on as a joke," he said of his first performance in 1993.

"And there were 75,000 people there as far as the eye can see." He received a Bafta Fellowship, the British TV industry's highest honour, in 2012, and was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia the same year. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Harris received the Bafta Fellowship in 2012 Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The star has been married to Alwen since 1958 But the entertainer was questioned by police as part of Operation Yewtree in November 2012 before being arrested the following March. Operation Yewtree was set up to investigate allegations in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal, but Harris's arrest was part of the strand looking at complaints against people not connected to the late DJ. Channel 5 then removed two programmes featuring Harris from its schedule and Ben Fogle replaced him as host of Animal Clinic. Harris went on trial in May in London and denied 12 counts of indecent assault. He was accused of assaulting four girls, the youngest of whom was seven or eight and the oldest 19, between 1968 and 1986.

Question: Which Rolf Harris song was the last UK number one hit of the 1960's?
Answer: 'TWO LITTLE BOYS'